1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an LED (light emitting diode) unit, and more particularly, to an LED unit having self-connecting leads.
2. Description of Related Art
As new type light source, LEDs are widely used in various applications. A conventional LED includes a base, a pair of leads fixed in the base, a chip mounted on the base and electrically connected to the leads and an encapsulant secured to the base and sealing the chip. Generally, multiple LEDs are mounted to a printed circuit board. The printed circuit board has electrical circuits to which the leads of the LEDs are soldered, thereby achieving various electrical connections of the LEDs.
However, since the pattern of the electrical circuits of the printed circuit board is fixed, the LEDs can only be connected with each other complying the pattern of the electrical circuits. As soon as the electrical connection relations between the LEDs are required to be changed for other applications, the pattern of the electrical circuits of the printed circuit board have to be redesigned and the printed circuit board needs to be remanufactured. Such redesign and remanufacture results in increase of the cost and waste of the time.
What is needed, therefore, is an LED unit having self-connecting leads which can overcome the limitations described above.